ABSTRACT
Each year in Canada, thousands of individuals are reported missing to the police. There are a myriad of causes underlying both accidental and intentional episodes of ‘missingness,’ creating complexity and nuance that require police response to be high-discretion and case-by-base in nature. As a result, the police face numerous issues (e.g., resourcing, non-standardization) with missing person cases, which have been well-documented throughout inquiries and reviews. This chapter presents an exploration of both the public and police responses to the phenomenon of missing persons in Canada, beginning with examining the contexts in which different policy responses arose over the last two decades. Following this, it turns to an analysis of the data to reveal the effects of these responses on policing practices and the operational work environment across this time period. A final summation of the findings concludes this chapter.
